


And All The Little Stars

by quitethefoody



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 21:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7480989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quitethefoody/pseuds/quitethefoody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cress is a computer science major trying to get by. This is her one chance to be free, away from home, away from everything that tortured her past, and be her own person. Thorne, commonly known as Captain, is the usual supsect. Football quarter back and campus heartthrob, Cress day-dreams about the two of them falling in love. When an accident on the field puts Thorne out of football, the two tumble into a relationship of unexpected twists and turns. One thing is for sure, neither of them will ever look back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One

Cress watched the car drive away from her dorm building and let out the breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She was free. Her overbearing mother was gone, headed to a home far, far away and now, Cress was free. She scanned the small room once and huffed. There was quite a bit of decorating to be done if this was to be her home base for the next year. There were two beds, two desks, and two dressers, all the same plain brown. She was surrounded by boxes and boxes of stuff. Granted it was her stuff, but stuff all the same. "Alright Cress, first things first, the bed." Talking to herself was a habit that she had started when her mom would leave town for extended periods of time, when the house was empty and it was just her. She nodded and set her bag to the side and pulled the mattress off of the bed. Using a trick she found online, she extended the bed to the highest it could go and slid the mattress under. "Perfect. Sitting space on top, sleeping space underneath." A cough at the door startled Cress so much that she knocked her head as she jumped, still under the bed. "Ow..." Cress emerged, rubbing her head where she knocked it. She looked up at whoever was standing at her door. There was a girl there. A tall girl with brown hair, pulled back in a pony tail and leaning to one side. behind her, however was the interesting part. From behind the girl emerged a dog of sorts, wearing a service vest. 

"Hi. I'm Cinder. That's Iko, she won't hurt you I promise. She's practically harmless." The girl, Cinder put the box she was holding down and stuck out a hand. Cress flinched and then instantly regretted it. It wasn't that bad, the girl's hand was just metal. Sure it was odd and different and made Cress think of the terminator, but not bad. No. Just...different. Cinder pulled her hand back. "Right, sorry. I forget to warn people all the time. Well, while we're on the topic of my metal limbs," she pulled up one of the legs on her pants to reveal another metal limb, this one reaching up to her mid thigh. "I've had these since I was eleven. I got in a really bad car accident and they had to amputate. That's why I have Iko. She helps me balance and such. Yeah." Cinder let the leg of her pants fall again. "So I see you haven't unpacked yet either. Great, we can unpack together. I just have a few more things to get out of my car and then I'll be all yours." She flashed a smile at Cress who was still too stunned to speak. As Cinder limped out and Iko followed, Cress began to slowly thaw out. She moved to the box containing her bed linens and started there. As she was under the bed, decorating the small space with photos and lights, she began to hum. It was a tune from one of her mother's operas. Even though she had hated them, the tunes were so lovely and beautiful, Cress found herself singing it, engulfed in her own little world. When she came out a second time she jumped at the figure standing in her doorway. What was it with people here and showing up in people's doorways all mysterious-like? This time it wasn't Cinder, but a boy. A very tall boy, though to be fair everyone was tall to Cress. He smiled widely at her and stuck a hand out. Cress shook his, seeing that it wasn't metal. 

"Hello there! My name is Kaito but you can call me Kai. I'm running for President. Of the student union." He handed Cress a flyer with his face on it. At the top it read, "Don't be shy, vote for Kai!" Cress giggled at the silliness of his rhymes and looked back at his still grinning face. He was adorably excited. "I heard you singing from down the hall. Where did you learn that?" Kai's posture changed from the formal meeting to leaning against her door frame. Cress felt a blush creep up her face. 

"Oh. Um. I-well-my mom watches a lot of old opera." Cress stumbled over her words and blushed even more. Kai only smiled bigger at her. 

"It was beautiful." There was a cough from behind Kai. He stood up and turned to reveal Cinder, standing there with a stack of boxes. "Oh, here let me help you with that." He quickly grabbed the top two from her and brought them into the room. Turning to face her, he smiled, but then a redness began to creep up his neck. Cress took careful note of that and sat on the chair watching the two stare at each other. 

"I didn't need help. I made it all the way up here without you, I could make it the next four feet." Cinder remained cool and collected, while Kai flushed even more. 

"Sorry. I was just trying to help." He shrugged and then hurried back to the door. "Okay, well I hope to see you at the student center! Bye now!" And he scurried out the door. 

"Who was that and why was he talking to you?" Cinder gave Cress a quizzical look. Cress shrugged and stood, returning to her boxes. She laid out books, posters, and hung up her clothes. The entire time she worked, Cinder talked and worked on her things as well. "Well, whoever he is, he seems annoying. Like one of those student council people or whatever. Whatever. That's a neat way to do your bed, I've never seen that before. So from what your online bio said, you're a computer science major, and you enjoy reading and music. That's really not much to go on, but I'm here for-"

"Mechanical design and engineering." Cress spoke, softly, as she usually did, but gained confidence as she continued. "You enjoy tinkering and fixing things. You seem to always be a mess and you didn't fill out your online profile completely. You have a step-mother and two step-sisters, one that you seem to be particularly fond of, and Iko. Your step-father died when you were young, in that same car accident where you lost your leg." Cress finished with a tug on her hair, which was coming out of the neat bun that she had pulled it into before she left. Cinder gaped at her. Cress smiled small. "You shouldn't let other people post so much about you on social media." Cinder smiled. 

"You and I are going to get along wonderfully." She wrapped an arm around Cress. Cress smiled and surveyed their newly put together room. Most of Cinder's stuff was a dark brown or a silvery blue. Everything Cress owned, down to her computer, was a silvery color. Her clothes were a rainbow that contrasted to Cinder's plain beige and white. Everything in the room clashed or looked odd with its partner but also worked. Cinder's voice brought Cress back to reality. "Hand me your phone. As roommates, we should have each other as contacts." Cinder passed Cress her own phone, plain and simple. Cress quickly unlocked it and put her number in, texting herself. 

"There. Done." Cress hopped up on top of her own bed frame, now covered in cushions and watched Cinder finish unpacking everything. She opened up her computer and checked all the social media pages for the school. "There's an activities fair down on the quad. We should go and see what there is to do." That warranted a laugh from Cinder. 

"You go ahead. I'll stay here and hold down the fort while you're gone." Cinder settled into the chair at her desk and Cress realized that she had been incredibly rude. Cinder was probably tired and sore from walking up and down all those stairs all day, and now Cress had just asked her to do more walking. She must seem so inconsiderate. 

"I'll come back up and tell you all about what clubs there are to join!" Cress smiled and pulled on her shoes. "Rest up. I'll see you later!" And with that she shut the door and turned around and ran into the biggest man she had ever seen. 

"Watch where you're going kid."


	2. A Litany of Excuse Me's and I'm Sorry's

Cress looked up at the man she bumped into. And kept looking up. Goodness he was tall. And his eyes were very, very green. Cress squeaked and took a few hasty steps back, running into another person, and then another to her left, and to her right, and when were there this many people in the hallway. Her thoughts were swimming as she mumbled apologies to the mass of people that felt like it was closing in on her. This was too many, too many to fit in one hallway. "Hey, I asked if you were okay? Can you hear me in there? Stars, I've scared another one." Suddenly, there was a large hand on her wrist and the feeling of being pulled in a certain direction but Cress really couldn't tell where. There was the ding of an elevator somewhere in the distance, and then a quiet hum of machinery. "Hey, kid. You in there? Sorry about running into you." Cress blinked once, twice, three times until finally the man came into view. He was huge, larger than both her and Cinder. He has striking green eyes and mussed up hair that looked like he had just rolled out of bed. Cress squeaked again and darted to the corner of the elevator. Every bone in her body was telling her to hide, but hide where? She was stuck with a man who looked just as scared as she did in a tiny elevator.

"S-sorry. I should have been looking where I was going." Cress mumbled most of her words and stumbled over the others. Why on earth did she think leaving the room was a good idea? The man looked her over once and shrugged. Was he going to hurt her? Kill her? He wasn't moving from his corner and didn't seem to have the focus to want to kill her anyways. He kept making a fist with his one hand, which was unnerving to say the least. The doors opened and Cress bolted out into the lobby and out to the quad, leaving the man and his scary fist behind. She soon realized that that was a mistake and she didn't know where she was going at all. There were tables set up everywhere and people smiling and strolling along the quad and a group of girls in bikinis, they were definitely a sorority. Cress made a note to avoid them. She looked around again taking a calming breath. She headed for the nearest booth, which happened to be for the campus radio station. Behind the booth was a girl who was larger than Cress, but who wasn't larger than her, with half her head shaved and looking down at her phone. Cress cleared her throat and the girl looked up. "H-hi there." The girl eyed her up and down and laughed.

"You're kidding right?" She raised a questioning eyebrow. "You don't seem like the type to go for a radio station. Why don't you go find the cheerleaders? They're down at the end." At that, Cress laughed.

"Me? A cheerleader? That's funny." She looked down at the sign up sheet. It was empty. "So what does it take to be a DJ for the station." Cress looked up at the girl with defiant eyes. There was a moment where the girl seemed to have an internal fight with herself, should she really let the small girl in front of her in? Cress took that time to put her name on the list.

"I guess you'll find out. Come to the station on Monday morning and we can get started." She smiled a very small, fleeting smile at Cress. "Oh, and I'm Nicole, but you can call me Nic. Cool?" Cress nodded eagerly. "Cool." She took a step back and bumped into another person, this one smaller but no less sturdy. Not again. Cress turned around, only to be greeted by a girl with flaming red hair glaring at her. "I-I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Cress instinctively reached for a strand of hair but found herself grasping at nothing, seeing that it was all currently pulled into a bun. The girl looked at her.

"Whatever. Just watch where you're going next time." And she huffed and walked away. Cress turned back around and waved at Nic to say good bye, only to find her on her phone again. Cress took a deep breath and continued down the path. There were the ROTC kids, dressed in crisp uniforms and standing straight; English kids, furiously smiling and handing out fliers for a poetry slam; the football team, joking around and whistling at the cheerleaders; the cheerleaders, dressed in skimpy outfits and throwing each other around as if it was easy; and then there was student government, with none other than Kai standing behind it, smiling a smile that clearly made the girls melt in the Spanish booth across the way. Cress approached and looked up at him.

"Did you teleport here or something? I just saw you standing in my dorm room." Cress teased. Kai looked down, stars he was tall, and grinned even wider.

"I'm incredibly fast. I also took the stairs." He looked down at his table. "Oh! You should sign up to be on a committee! You could be on my committee!" Cress' eyes widened.

"Oh no. No way. That would involve talking to people and having people talk to me. No way." She saw his face fall, and felt sightly horrible. Quickly she said, "But you have my vote for President. Now, and in the future!" His eyes lit up.

"Really? I'm a political science major, you know." Cress saw him straighten a little and smile. Shaking her head, Cress leaned on the table.

"Really? Who could have guessed?" She smiled, watching him preen his ego.

"I want to be president someday. Someday..." Kai seemed to get lost in himself and Cress waved a hand in front of his face.

"Kai? Hello? Earth to Kai? You in there?" Cress snapped her fingers and Kai jumped.

"Oh, sorry. I just got distracted. Sorry." He shook his head and blinked. Cress stood and looked around at the already thinning crowd. Her stomach rumbled. Kai laughed. "Are you hungry? I'm famished, I haven't eaten since I left home this morning." Checking her watch Cress saw that the time was five thirty in the afternoon.

"It's five thirty! And you haven't eaten since this morning?! What? We are heading to a dining hall to get you some food. That's really not healthy, you know." She tapped her foot as she waited for Kai to move. "You don't have a choice, lets go Mr. President." He rolled his eyes and moved away from the table.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming." As he circled around to Cress, the tips of his ears turned pink. "Hey, do you think that we could, um maybe get your roommate? I'm just thinking that she might not have anyone to sit with and walking alone seems dangerous for her, and I just thought..." With each word his ears and face became more and more red. Cress laughed and nodded.

"She has a name. It's Cinder. And of course we can go get her. Move along, maybe she hasn't left yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kai, slow down, you're taller than me and can take bigger steps!" Cress panted her way back up to Kai, who was moving at a rather easy stroll, while she was practically jogging to keep up with his long strides. "Kai, you'll have to wait for me, I have the key!" She jogged again to catch up to him. He let out a laugh as he opened up the door to the stairwell.

"Come on slow poke!" Kai shouted as he took the stairs two at a time, a feat Cress' small legs would not be able to handle.

"I'll just take the elevator." She said to the already gone Kai. As she sat in the elevator, Cress was reminded of this morning and the man who had just grabbed her. He did save her from running into more people and having a nervous break down in the hallway. Alone in the elevator, she took deep breaths, fighting down the anxiety that continued to wash over her.

It felt like forever, but the elevator finally dinged and the doors opened. The hallway before her was almost empty compared to when she had left. It felt eerie and quiet but if she was honest, Cress kind of liked it. As she reached her room there were voices coming from inside. Seems Cinder let Kai in herself. Opening the door, she found Iko curled up at Kai's feet and Cinder sitting with her leg hanging off the side of her bed. "Cress!" Cinder gave Cress a look that could probably freeze time and scared her halfway to death "His majesty here was just suggesting we go to this cafe for dinner. Tell him he's crazy." Cress smiled.

"I like the idea of going there for dinner. We were coming up to invite you. You're welcome to join us!" Kai grinned after she finished talking. Cinder looked like she was thinking for a minute and then sighed.

"Fine. I'll go. But I won't be happy about it." She hopped down and Iko barked. "Yes Iko you're coming with us." There was some commotion as they all tried to leave at once, but eventually they were on their way.


End file.
